Automatic speed control for motor-vehicles.



I v 'H. F. GRUBB.

' AUTOMATIC SPEED GONTBOL'IOR MOTOR VEHIOLES.

APPLICATION I'ILBD AUG. 3, 1910.

1,040,189. V v Patented Oct. 1, 1912.-

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

6. Jim/527122 ut' MK ENnY'rJ GRUBB,

OF LORAIN, OHIO.

AUTOMATICsrEEn'coNTnoL r012 Moron-V ICL S.

me ian.

To all whom. it may comm: Be it known. that I; Hnxnr F Gnmsia, acitizen of the United States, residing at Lcraidlin the'county of Lorain and State of Ohio, have invented a certain'new anduscfnl Improvement-in Automatic Speed Controlfor lllotor-Vehicles, of which the following is a full,jclear,'and. exact description,

;reterence being bad to-theacconnoanying drawings.

"lhen'ilnary object'of this inventionis .to provide a motor vehicle with simple and efiicient mechanism for automatically 'controlling the speed, while allowingthat speed to be set at any desired, point. To this end,

' I have provided a' governor which operates as the speed decreases td open the throttle and advance the 'sliiark, thereby causing an increase of speed. U1)0I1"1Cl\ increase, the

governor operates with. the reverse efl'ect, whereby the speed is maintained substantially constant. Manually operated mechanism is provided for setting the governor for anyspeed desired, such mecbani'sm being readily accessible to the driver of the vehicle, as, for example, by having a' handle adjacentto the steering wheel. v

In addition'to the abovedescribed mechanism, which is effective for maintaining the speedon a level, I provide additional manual means readily accessible for reversing the action'ot' the governor on the spark,

whereby'the throttle may beautomatically' opened and the spark consequent-1y retarded.

thus providing the proper conditions for 'maximinn power at low'speed, as,' t'or ex ample, taking a hill.

My invention. comprises the means by which the above results are accomplished.

Suclrmeans are illustrated in a preferred .form in-the drawings and are hereinafter more fully explained In the drawings, Figure 1 isa side 'eleva-.-

tion of the front portion of a. motor vehicle equipped with my invention, 'I 1g. 21s a vertical longitudinal section through they governor; Fig. 3 a'view. looking diagonally downward on the steering'wheel in l'lirection of its axis; Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the mechanism controlling the spark; Fig; 5 is a vertical section through.

the spark controlling means, being on the Specification of Letters Patent.

plane indicated by the line 5 -5 in Fig. 4;

crnor as indicated byxthe line (i (5.in Fig. and Fig. 7.is a scctibn showing the look: ing. mechanism at either of "the setting handles. I

As shown in Fig. 1, the numeral 10- designates-the body of the vehicle provided with the usual wheels 11, engine 12, steering steeringwheel. The stee'ring wheel has a tubular shaft, not sl1own,-withi1'i the support which operates. the i'nechanism, indicated by15.

20 indicates a. handle for setting the governor. This handle is connectedto the upend a pinion 21 meshing with a gear 2). with i which is connected an arm 23 and-a rod 24 for setting the governor, as will .be. hereinat'tcr explained. \Vithin' the shaft carrying the-handle 20 is another shatt carrying the handle 25. Thisshaft carries at its lower end a pinion 26 which meshes with a gear 27 having an,arm 28 connected by a. liiik 29 handle 24' accordingly, is the one used for rmrcrsmg the normal-action of the governing mechanism for hill climbing. The two seo'n'ient bar 30 (carried by the stationary tubular support 14), by means of slida-ble pinsSl in the respective. handles whic'hengage notches in the segment bar. Aspring 32 surrounding the shank of the pin, as shown in Fig. 7, handle locked, but a slight inward pressure on the knob presses thepinin sulliciently to release it. from the segment bar. allowing the handle to be turned as desired.

The governor is shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and will now be described. mounted on a pedestal 4O rising from the vehicle frame is a sleeve 4i onwhich is a sprocket wheel 42 connected by a sprocket chain 43 with the engine shaft, not shown. The opposite end of this sleeve ll is formed with a pair of diametrically opposite ears' 45'in,,which' are pivotedbent levers 46 carrying on their outer ends balls or aveights 47.' Pivot-ally connected with these levers Patented Oetzl'l, 1 912. Application filed August s. 1910. SeriaI No. 576,057.

- Fig. (3 is a cross sectionthrough thegov wheel Ill-and tubular support' l lflfor the' usual steering ,per end (if a tubularshaft which is within. the stecrlng'shaft and *arries atv 1ts lowerl.

with the spark controlling. mechanism. The

handles 20. and QFyarc normally locked to a.

tends to maintain the Rotatably" tensions slidahly engaging the ear-s45.

. l v collar slid-ably mounted on the outer surwillfbe evident running, t

. wardly hy centrifugal force proportionate to the speed, and, in such outward movemcnh;

- 8% hetween which stand blocks "nib surrounds the sleeve sions of thearms nuts 64: may he achusted in position and locked by suitable amh nuts 67 face of a hub 31 on the pedestal 40. This tlqand terms a portion ot' the hearing .40. The collar, while slidable on the hub, is prevented from rotat ing by the spline '58 and a'corresponding gr oove. The collar is connected loy a link with the throttle 56, such link being pivoted-to the collar by the pin 57 -The collar is also connected with the s iark shitting mechanism by means of the link 58 which is conn'ected'to tlie collar at 59,

From the construction above described, it that, when the. machine is he -19 with the weighted arms will'herotated and the halls'will move outiviil shiftthe collar toward the'left. This letthand shifting tends to closethe throttle and to-retard the spark, which causes a diminution in the speed h ow the outward movementof the balls is resisted by a spring '80 \vithii1 tuhular casing 61- and com pressed hetweenftheend of that. casing and the head on. a rod 63, the outer end oi? the rod having a pair or hemispherical nuts which are secured-to and constitute inner eaten hi. These hemispheritzal and ' i l hen the speed of the engine diminishes.

the spring counteracts the centrifugal force and moves the balls inwardly, thereby shoving the links 55 and 58 to theright,

.opening the throttle and advancing the spark to increase the speed. 3

The linkQ l, heretofore referred toand operated by the handle 20, is connected with a bell crank lever pivoted on the bracket. wand connected at its upper end to the casing 61. Accordingly, the turning of the handle QO shifts this casing in; or out to in decrease the compression of the crease or spring 60 and thereby-determine the speed atwhich the governor causes a given control of the throttle and s )arln Accordingly, the handle 20 sets the speed at which the engine is to run, and the governor automatically gives the proper conditions oftu'el supply 'and spark position to maintain that speed,

To give the governor the desired sensi- .tiveness, I; mount a spring 72 between-the ment'ot the balls.

head 62 andthe inner end of the'casi'ng 61'. This spring tends to retard the inward move- I When the casing 60 is shifted to the left to increase the resistance mg the resistance to inward "the har 58 against outward movement of the halls, this same action relieves the spring 72, decreas- Similarly, when the casing 61 is moved tomov'ement.

ward the right to decrease the. resistance to outward movement, the resistance to-inwardmovement iscorrespondingly increased. A very effective control of-the governor is thus obtained. 3 J l As heretofore stated, the rod 58"cont-rols the position ofthe spark, In order'that'the action of this rod may-be varied sothat a movement in the right hand directiom'for example, will either advance the spark when the-throttle is opening, as above explained, i

or under special. conditions, retard the spark when the throttle is opening, special mocha nismis provided which is shown in Figs; 1, 4: and 5 and will now be described.

a so

Rising from the frame is a standard which, at its upper end, takes the to m of a yoke 81. Journaled inythis standard be? tween the arms ot t-he yoke is a shaft 82.

which has an arm 83 connected by a link 8t with the magneto 85, or other spark control. hllonnted on this shaftjand keyed to it is a pinion 8.6. Slidably'mounted in the yoke arms 81 bar 88 to which the rod 58 is -conneeted. Aha-r 89f, slidable in one of the arms 81 and. havinga tongue and groove connection with the bar 88, is held to that-'- I bar by a, spring 90 so as normally to move in unison with it. llhis bar 89 has" rack teeth 91 moshing with the teeth of the pinion'StS. Accordingly,

moves to pin. in 86 and shaft'82 are correspondingly rotated and the spark is advanced or re- 'tarded.

As heretofore stated, it is desirable onoccasions, to reverse the sparking effect of the "governor to cause a retarding of the'spark under normal conditions, as I the right or left-,the-

l n simultaneously with the opening of the throttle, for high power at low speed,a.nd,

as stated, this is accomplished by'the-handle ,25 operating the link 29. This link 29 is connected with a'bell crank 92, the other arm of which isconnected by a 1ink'93 with a rack bar 9% which is pivoted to a depending portion or the bar 88. This rack-bar 9% stands below and normallyifree from a pinion. 95 loosely journaled on the shaft 82.

When, however, the handle 25 is shifted in the direction to raise the link93, the teeth on the bar 94 come into engagement with the teeth on the pinion 95 and thereupon right hand movement, for eXample, -of the bar 88 moves the lowermost teeth of the pinion 95' toward the right, and a pawl 96 carried by this pinion and-engaging ratchet teeth 97 on an inner peri hery of the pinion 86 turns theshaft 82 int cleft hand direction, the bar 89 traveling idly toward the lea as the spring 90.e xtending during such.-

sprlng 97 assists the raismgofv action. -A the 'bar 94. When this bar is in engagement, a, left hand movement of.the-.-yoke 88,

after closing any gap between the yoke and.

bar 91, rotates'the pinion 86' and theshaft 82 inthe normal retarding direction, the; ratchet teeth passing idly under thepawl.

engine speeds up toa certain amount, the throttle is closed and theispark retarded even when the bar 94 is in engagement. Therefore, whenever the operator'desires to obtain the maximum power at-low speed as, for .example, when taking a steep hill, he actuates; the handle 25, throwing the bar 94 into engagement. and reversing the sparking action of the governor, as described, and the conditions arising. i

To prevent the bar 94 being thrown out of engagement when the rack 89 and yoke '88 are separated (which would disarrange the relation of the parts) I may provide mecha nism illustrated in Fig. 4. As there shown this mechanism consists of a plate or bar 98 secured to rack 89 and having at its .lower' 'end a flange 99. A

pin 100 on the bar 94 stands normally beneath, and forward of, thisflange. lVhen the bar 94 is down the flangemoves idly, and when the bar 94 is up and the movement isin te,- left, hand direction the flange is idle. en, however, the' bar; 94 is up, and the movement is in the right hand direction, the separation of the yoke 88 and rack 89 brings the flange 99 below the pin 100 and thereby'prevents the bar 94 passing out-of engagement with the wheel 86 until the .-reverse movementbringsthe rack 89 back 'to normal posltion.

' It will be seen that the construction I have described provides an automatic speed regulation without interfering with the manual regulation by the operator. Instead, therefore, of the operator constantly shifting his throttle and sparking mechanism manually 'for varying conditions of running, he shifts the control of his governor, and the governor automatically maintains conditions proper for the reservation of that speed under normal running. At the same time,

abnormal conditions are providedforby-the other handle, which-enablesthe operator to reverse the action of'thegovernor on'the spark mechanism;

- Having thus described my inventlon, what I claim is:

1. The combination with a motor vehicle, ofan explosive engine, a governor, means operated thereby for simultaneously controlling the throttle to open or close it and the.

. .echanism automatically takes care. of the time of the spark to advance orrbtard it,

and means operatedas desired for reversing the direction of one of said'controlling op' erations with reference to theother;

2. The combination with a. motor vehicle,

of an explosive engine, a governor, means governor on' the sparking mechanism, and a steering wheel adjacent to which said manually operated'means are mounted. 4. In a motor vehicle, the combination with an explosive engine, of a governor, a. 'sparking ,inechanism', means whereby the same movement of the. governor may shift the. sparking mechanism either to advance or to retard the spa'rlnand' means for controlling the direction of such shifting. 9o ,5. In a motor vehicle, the combination with an explosive engine, of sparking mechanism, .a shaft connected't-herewith to advance-or retard the sparkaccording to the direction in which the'shaft is turned,' gear 95 mechanism on said shaft, a pair of racks for engaging the opposite sides of said mechanism, and means for causing one rack or the other to be effective as desired;

6. In a motor vehicle, the combination with an explosive engine, a sparking mechanism,a' shaft connected-therewith. to advance or retardthe spark according to the direction in whioh'the shaft is turned, gear mechanism on said shaft, a pair of racks to operate said mechanism, and a centrifugal governor adapted to operate said racks and also to control the throttle.

7. In a motor vehicle, the combination with an explosive engine, of spar ing mech anism, a shaft connected therewith to advance or retard the-spark according to the direction in which the shaft is turned, a pair of gears on said shaft, one'loose and one tight, a pair of racks for engaging the opposite sides of the respective gears, and a ratchet and pawl connection between the gears. I

8. In a motor vehicle, the combination with an explosive engine, of sparking me'chanism, a shaft connected therewith to advance or retard the spark according to the direction in which the shaft is turned, gear mechanism on said shaft, a pair of racks for engaging the opposite sides of said mechanism, means for causing one rack or the 

